Friday Finds & Reader Recommendations – 08-21-2026

LIVE!! HOCKEY ROMANCE FAKE RELATIONSHIP!!

“A swoony and spicy fake dating, rival’s ex, college hockey romance from USA Today bestselling author Maren Moore.

I’m done with hockey players.
Done with their egos.
Done with their lies.
Done with being the girl who isn’t good enough.

My focus is law school. My future. A life better than the one I came from. Then I get paired with Bennett Legros in creative writing. Orleans University’s resident playboy.

The star goalie with a reputation for breaking hearts as easily as he stops pucks. And the guy who somehow doesn’t remember the humiliating night between us sophomore year… even though I’ve never forgotten…”

THE LATEST BY VI KEELAND IS IN AMAZON’S TOP 50 RIGHT NOW!! THE NEIGHBOR SHE CLASHES WITH!!

“A sexy new standalone from #1 New York Times bestselling author Vi Keeland, perfect for readers who loved Under the Tuscan Sun and are ready to fall for Tuscany all over again.

Some people go to Tuscany to find themselves.
I went to escape—New York, my ex’s new relationship, and a career that derailed the moment I was passed over for partner.
My plan was simple: settle my eccentric Italian grandmother’s estate, sell whatever wasn’t nailed down, and return to the life I’d worked too hard to lose.

Instead, I walked into a mess—a crumbling antique shop, two hundred acres of leased vineyard land, and one infuriating clause in the will: Live and work in the shop for three months, or inherit nothing.

Then there’s the neighbor I clash with instantly. Matteo Lucchese is the infuriatingly handsome winemaker who leases my family’s land and refuses to be impressed by my credentials…”

LIVE!! SECOND CHANCE HOCKEY WHY CHOOSE ROMANCE!!

“I had two men, one secret marriage, and a love the law refused to name. Then came the accident.

When I woke up, Halston Saint Claire was hidden behind his family’s money, lawyers, and lies. Creed Lafontaine was gone. Everyone around me insisted the rings, the vows, the three of us—it was all trauma talking.

So I did what broken girls with color-coded calendars and trust issues do best. I survived.

Now I live in Florence, restoring damaged art and pretending the past doesn’t still have its hands on me. Until one forged document drags me back into the Saint Claire world…”

LIVE!! MAFIA ROMANCE ALERT!!

“Elijah isn’t just a star hockey player and a mafia heir. He’s also a Saints legacy within the Black Crown Society.

Most importantly, he’s Blair Winthrop’s best friend. She was born into the Black Crown Society too. A legacy in her own right, destined to be matched with a Saint chosen for her. She’s the only person who has ever been able to tame Elijah’s fiery temper.

Not even Elijah understood his obsession with Blair… until she left without a goodbye, leaving him to believe the worst. Her opinion is the only one that has ever mattered to him…”

AUTOBIOGRAPHY!! YOU KNOW I LOVE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES & I one-clicked this one. I never realized she released one…

“AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Heroes and Nashville star Hayden Panettiere reclaims her story in a remarkably candid memoir…”

LIVE! OOOPS PREGNANCY!!!

“How can two little blue lines change your entire world?

I spent the best night of my life with the most infuriating man I’ve ever met. It was only one night with Grant, then we went our separate ways. It doesn’t matter. I have my horses. I love my job and friends. It’s all I need.

Until I learn I’m pregnant.

That’s when our paths cross again. Grant moves to Pinecrest—with his son—to coach the local baseball team…”

LIVE!! MILITARY ROMANCE!!

“They took everything from him. Now he’s taking it back! Navy SEAL Commander James (Rook) Callahan and his elite team are ambushed on a covert mission. Everyone he loves is killed…left for dead.

But the truth is even more deadly. The attack isn’t random. It’s betrayal. Now Rook is the only one standing between a hidden enemy and a conspiracy that reaches the highest level of power.

With danger closing in and trust in short supply, the only person he can’t walk away from is the woman, who sees the man behind the mission…and the scars…”

MAFIA AGE GAP ROMANCE SUPER-SALE!!/strong>

“When your abusive ex cheats, you get revenge. By sleeping with his older Bratva brother. Then showing up to the wedding. On his arm.

I’m trying on a gown I could never afford.
A stick-thin customer snickers. “A dress like that wasn’t made for someone with your curves.”…”

LIVE!! WHY CHOOSE ROMANCE!!

“Cherry survived the impossible. Escaped the facility that tortured her and found safety with five alphas who refuse to let her face the world alone. But survival is only the beginning.
Although they’ve figured out a way to help her shift, and she can finally start to communicate with them, it comes with complications that stop her from shifting on her own.

And getting her voice back only raises more questions. Why does death refuse to take her? What did the facility do to her? And what is the powerful bond forming between her and the five males who refuse to leave her side…”

LIVE!! HER NEIGHBOR HAS SECRETS…

“Rue Bellamy thinks I’m the most boring man alive, and I intend to keep it that way. As long as my sweet-faced neighbor never sees past my beige cardigans and passionate opinions about rose fertilizer, she won’t realize I’ve been in love with her for every one of the 538 days I’ve known her.

She also won’t think to look for the cameras I installed in her half of our duplex. (What can I say? Surveillance is my love language.)

Best of all, she’ll never connect those impeccably staged accidents she processes as a death investigator to the man watering the rosebushes next door…”

LIVE!! FIREFIGHTER ROMANCE!!

“After getting out of a relationship that almost left her in pieces, Freya Malcolm doesn’t ever want to need anyone again.

Finally able to live the life she wants, she returns to her hometown to open her dream yarn store, and begin to reclaim the parts of herself that were taken. She just didn’t expect that striking out on her own would be quite this lonely…”

LIVE!! PARANORMAL ROMANCE ALERT!!

“An epic, magical summer solstice celebration with super scary monster legends, and a cryptid wants me as his date. Seems legit.

Darien
As much fun as it is making two dollars above minimum wage, I’ve always dreamed of a career as an herbalist. Now that I’ve broken up with my girlfriend, it seems like the perfect time to trade the go-go-go culture of LA for the peace of the great outdoors. But once I arrive in the Ozarks, communing with nature takes on a whole new meaning…”

LIVE!! ENEMIES TO LOVERS!!

“Rue Bellamy thinks I’m the most boring man alive, and I intend to keep it that way.

As long as my sweet-faced neighbor never sees past my beige cardigans and passionate opinions about rose fertilizer, she won’t realize I’ve been in love with her for every one of the 538 days I’ve known her…”

LIVE!! BIKER ROMANCE ALERT!!

“I’m the President of Rebel Kings MC, the iron fist that holds this club together. She’s the light I never knew I was missing.

My life is nothing but noise, secrets, and the constant, crushing weight of keeping my brothers alive. I walk into a peaceful-looking floral shop looking for a moment of silence. Instead, I find her. Soraya. Even her name is an elegant mystery. She’s soft, curved, and everything beautiful in a world that has turned cold and gray…”

LIVE!! MYSTERY THRILLER!!

“Never stray from the path. It could be your undoing.

Forensic pathologist Julia Schwarz is no stranger to the dead. But nothing prepares her for the body waiting in a derelict container yard. A young woman has been murdered, her ears cut off and replaced with someone else’s…”

LIVE!! FOOTBALL ROMANCE!!

“Falling for the one woman who has the power to end my football career was never part of the plan . . .

This was supposed to be Cole Valor’s record-breaking season. Instead, the star quarterback can’t seem to find his game. Missed throws. Bad reads. And someone is making a fortune betting against him.

When suspicious betting patterns surrounding his performance raise red flags, the NFL assigns its top integrity investigator to determine if its golden boy is the victim . . . or the mastermind…”

LIVE!! BIKER ROMANCE!!

“From New York Times bestselling author, Sadie Kincaid, comes a new dark mafia enemies to lovers romance.

He could rule the city if he wanted to.
So why isn’t he sitting on the throne.

He thinks I betrayed him, but he has no idea what really happened all those years ago, or how much it cost me to walk away from everything I’d ever known.

He has no idea that the truth could cost him everything.

I could hand it to him right now and watch him burn this city down taking his vengeance. But I can’t. Not because I’m afraid of what it will do to me, but because I know exactly what it will do to him.

And now he has my life in his hands…”

LIVE!! FIREFIGHTER ROMANCE!!

“My smart app keeps calling the fire department. And the hottest firefighter on Red Oak Mountain keeps answering. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Moving to Red Oak Mountain was supposed to be my fresh start. New town. New job. And a new rental house right beside the fire station.
Then my FireSmart smoke alarm starts going off at midnight. Every time it happens, the system automatically alerts the fire dispatch and a horde of sexy firefighters come running from next door.

But my eye only focuses on one of them. Once again, Colt is standing on my porch while I’m barefoot, half-asleep, and wearing one of my short little nightgowns. This time, when the alarm stops ringing… he doesn’t leave. ❤️…”

LIVE!! M/M ROMANCE

“Falling for your employee, who is also your brother’s best friend, isn’t in the handbook. So he rewrote the rules of the game.

First rule of being a best friend: don’t fall for your bestie’s older brother. Especially if he’s your boss…”

HISTORICAL ROMANCE

“He was never supposed to notice her, seated among the chaperones, but Prince Alexander Karalovy of Russia had eyes for no one in the ballroom but Miss Thea Templebourne. A romance between them was unthinkable, but Russian princes cared nothing for the conventions of the English aristocracy.

When rumors flew that more than one man was planning to make her his mistress at the season’s end, Prince Alexander decided there was only one acceptable option—for her to be his princess…”

READ BY THE AUTHOR!

“AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Heroes and Nashville star Hayden Panettiere reclaims her story in a remarkably candid memoir. Read by the author…”

SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE!!

“I had two men, one secret marriage, and a love the law refused to name. Then came the accident.

When I woke up, Halston Saint Claire was hidden behind his family’s money, lawyers, and lies. Creed Lafontaine was gone. Everyone around me insisted the rings, the vows, the three of us—it was all trauma talking.

So I did what broken girls with color-coded calendars and trust issues do best. I survived.

Now I live in Florence, restoring damaged art and pretending the past doesn’t still have its hands on me. Until one forged document drags me back into the Saint Claire world…”